THE INSTITUTE 

FOR 

GOVERNMENT RESEARCH 



ITS ORGANIZATION 

WORK 
AND PUBLICATIONS 



Washington, D. C, March 1, 1922 






THE INSTITUTE 

FOR 

GOVERNMENT RESEARCH 



ITS ORGANIZATION 

WORK 
AND PUBLICATIONS 



Washington, D. C, March 1, 1922 



]7 



tKfje Snfitttute for #obemment &eaearcfj 

818 Connecticut Avenue, N. W. 

Washington, D. C. 



Robert S. Brookings, 
Chairman 

James F. Curtis, 
Secretary 



OFFICERS 



Frank J. Goodnow, 
Vice-Chairman 

Frederick Strauss, 
Treasurer 



TRUSTEES 



Edwin A. Alderman 
Robert S. Brookings 
James F. Curtis 
R. Fulton Cutting 
Frederick H. Delano 
George Eastman 
Raymond B. Fosdick 
Felix Frankfurter 
Edwin F. Gay 
Frank J. Goodnow 
Jerome D. Greene 



Arthur T. Hadley 
Herbert C. Hoover 
A. Lawrence Lowell 
Samuel Mather 
Richard B. Mellon 
Charles D. Norton 
Martin A. Ryerson 
Frederick Strauss 
Silas H. Strawn 
William H. Taft 
Ray Lyman Wilbur 



Robert S. Woodward 
DIRECTOR 

W. F. WlLLOUGHBY 



STAFF 



Joshua Bernhardt 
Jenks Cameron 
Milton Conover 
Francis X. A. Eble 
W. Thomas French 
W. Stull Holt 
Lewis Meriam 



Fred W. Powell 

L. F. SCHMECKEBIER 

Henry P. Seidemann 
Darrell H. Smith 
Gustavus A. Weber 
George Weiss 



Gift . 

Mrs.H.H.e. Meyer 

May 12,2 937 



< 

Qftje 3fa£tttute for (©obentment Eesiearcf) 

Its Organization, Work and Publications 

Creation and 
Purpose 

The Institute for Government Research is an organization created by 
men who believe that there should be a non-partisan, independent institu- 
tion to consider the problems of public administration, and particularly 
those of the National Government, for the purposes of making known the 
most scientific practical principles and procedure that should obtain in 
the conduct of public affairs. 

Organization and 
Support 

The Institute was incorporated under the laws of the District of 
Columbia on March 16, 1916, and began active operations on October 
1 of that year. Its Board of Trustees has been carefully selected with a 
view to securing representation on it of those persons who stand highest 
in the public estimation for their active interest and work in the cause 
of promoting good government in this country. As at present constituted 
the Board has as its officers and members: 
Chairman: Robert S. Brookings 

President, Board of Trustees, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo., 
and, during the war, Chairman of the Price Fixing Committee of 
the War Industries Board. 
Vice-Chairman : Frank J. Goodnow 

President, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. ; former mem- 
ber of the "President's Commission on Economy and Efficiency" 
and Legal Adviser to the Chinese Government. 
Secretary. James F. Curtis 

Attorney at Law, New York City; former Assistant Secretary of the 
Treasury, and Deputy Governor and Counsel, Federal Reserve 
Bank of New York. 
Treasurer, Frederick Strauss 

Banker, New York City. 
Members : 

Edwin A. Alderman, President, University of Virginia. 
R. Fulton Cutting, former President, New York Bureau 
of Municipal Research; former President, Association for 
Improving the Condition of the Poor. 
Frederick A. Delano, former Vice-Governor, Federal Re- 
serve Board. 
George Eastman, General Manager, Eastman Kodak Co., 
Rochester, N. Y. 

3 



THE INSTITUTE FOR GOVERNMENT RESEARCH 

Raymond B. Fosdick, Attorney at Law, New York City; 
former Commissioner of Accounts, New York City; Chair- 
man, Commission on Training Camp Activities of the War 
Department; former Under Secretary General, League of 
Nations. 

Felix Frankfurter, Professor, Law School, Harvard Uni- 
versity. 

Edwin F. Gay, President, New York Evening Post. 

Jerome D. Greene, Banker; former General Manager, 
Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research; Director, 
American Social Hygiene Association. 

Arthur T. Hadley, former President, Yale University. 

Herbert C. Hoover, Secretary of Commerce. 

A. Lawrence Lowell, President, Harvard University. 

Samuel Mather, Merchant, Philanthropist, Cleveland, Ohio. 

Richard B. Mellon, Banker, Pittsburgh, Pa. 

Charles D. Norton, President, First Security Company, 
New York City; former Assistant Secretary of the Treas- 
ury and Secretary to President William H. Taft. 

Martin A. Ryerson, President, Board of Trustees, Uni- 
versity of Chicago; Trustee, Carnegie Institution of Wash- 
ington. 

Silas H. Strawn, Attorney at Law, Chicago, 111. 

William H. Taft, former President of the United States; 
Chief Justice, Supreme Court of the United States. 

Ray Lyman Wilbur, President, Stanford University. 

Robert S. Woodward, former President, Carnegie Institu- 
tion of Washington. 

In addition to the foregoing, the Institute has had upon its Board 
of Trustees the late James J. Hill, of St. Paul, Minnesota, the late 
Cesar Lombardi, of Dallas, Texas, the late Theodore N. Vail, of New 
York, and the late Franklin K. Lane, of San Francisco. 

Since its organization the work of the Institute has been under the im- 
mediate direction of W. F. Willoughby, former Treasurer of Porto Rico, 
Assistant Director, U. S. Bureau of the Census, member of President 
Taft's Commission on Economy and Efficiency, and Legal Adviser to 
the Chinese Government. 

The Institute is wholly supported by private contributions. Its head- 
quarters are at 818 Connecticut Avenue, N. W., Washington, D. C, 
where it has a valuable technical library relating to the organization and 
work of the National Government and of administrative matters gen- 
erally. The Institute is thus thoroughly equipped, within the financial 
resources at its disposal, to perform the work for which it was created. 



ITS ORGANIZATION. WORK AND PUBLICATIONS 

General Policy 
of the Institute 

The Institute aims to make of itself a technical staff agency, the 
resources of which are available to both the legislative and administrative 
branches of the government in seeking means by which the administration 
of national affairs may be put upon a more economical and efficient basis. 

To this end, it seeks by the thorough-going study and examination of 
the best administrative practice, public and private, American and for- 
eign, to formulate those principles which lie at the basis of all sound 
administration, and to determine their proper adaptation to the specific 
needs of our public administration. 

The accomplishment of specific reforms the Institute recognizes to be 
the task of those who are charged with the responsibility of legislation 
and administration; but it seeks to assist, by scientific study and re- 
search, in laying a solid foundation of information and experience upon 
which such reforms may be successfully built. 

This policy and attitude towards officers of the government has been 
more than justified by the results. As will be shown more fully later 
on, the activities of the Institute, instead of being resented, have been 
welcomed and to a constantly increasing extent its assistance has been 
sought by both members of Congress and administrative officers in work- 
ing out many of the important administrative problems confronting them. 

Work of the 
Institute 

The Institute has now been in operation something more than three 
years. The work done by it falls under the three main heads of: 

1. Scientific Investigation. 

2. Assistance to the Government in Meeting Its War Problems. 

3. Promotion of Improvements in Administrative Organization and 

Procedure. 

Scientific 
Investigation 

The scientific investigation work of the Institute is largely represented 
by its publications. Following is a list of the volumes which have been 
issued by it: 

1. The Svstem of Financial Administration of Great Britain. 

By W. F. Willoughby, W. W. Willoughby, and S. M. Lindsay. 

2. The Budget: A Translation. 

By Rene Stourm. 

3. The Canadian Budgetary System. 

By H. G. Villard and W. W. Willoughby. 

4. The Problem of a National Budget. 

By W. F. Willoughby. 



THE INSTITUTE FOR GOVERNMENT RESEARCH 

5. The Movement for Budgetary Reform in the States. 

By W. F. Willoughby. 

6. The Federal Service: A Study of the System of Personnel Admin- 

istration of the United States Government. 
By Lewis Mayers. 

7. Principles Governing the Retirement of Public Employees. 

By Lewis Meriam. 

8. Teachers' Pension Systems in the United States. 

By Paul Studensky. 

9. Principles of Government Accounting and Reporting. 

By Francis Oakey. 

10. Principles of Government Purchasing. 

By A. G. Thomas. 

11. Organized Efforts for the Improvement of Methods of Administra- 

tion in the United States. 
By G. A. Weber. 

12. Principles of Public Personnel Administration. 

By Arthur W. Procter. 

13. The Geological Survey: Service Monograph of the United States 

Government, No. 1. 

14. The Reclamation Service: Service Monograph of the United States 

Government j No. 2. 

A brief account of the character and purpose of each of these volumes 
is given in an appendix to this pamphlet. These volumes, in addition to 
being sold to the public, have been given a wide, gratuitous distribution 
among officers of the government and have furnished the basis for much 
of the efforts now being made to improve methods of public admin- 
istration. 

Assistance to the Government in 
Meeting its War Problems 

During the war the Institute almost wholly suspended its regular pro- 
gram of work in order to assist the several services of the government in 
meeting their special problems. This assistance was rendered, partly in 
the way of performing particular items of work for the services, but 
largely in the way of lending the members of the Institute's staff to the 
services for work requiring special knowledge of administrative prob- 
lems. Among the services so aided were: the Council of National De- 
fense, the American National Red Cross, the Finance, Medical and Ord- 
nance Departments of the War Department, the Bureau of Internal 
Revenue, and the Senate Finance Committee. That this assistance was 
highly appreciated is evidenced by the large number of letters received 
from the heads of departments and services aided expressing their thanks 
for the work done, 



ITS ORGANIZATION, WORK AND PUBLICATIONS 

Promotion of Improvements in Administrative 
Organization and Procedure 

The eight fundamental improvements required in the administrative 
systems of the United States Government at the time the Institute was 
organized were: 

1. The entire revision of its system of determining and making pro- 
vision for the financial needs of the government, to be secured through 
the adoption of a scientific budget system. 

2. The establishment of a service of general administration analogous 
to that of the Treasury in the British Government, which, itself having 
no operative function, would serve as the organ through which the Presi- 
dent, as head of the Administration, might effectively discharge his 
duties of formulating a budget, supervising its execution, correcting the 
organization and activities of the administrative services, prescribing 
uniform methods of conducting the public bureaus, and generally meet- 
ing his constitutional obligations of seeing that the laws were duly en- 
forced and of laying before Congress from time to time information in 
regard to the state of the Union. 

3. The setting up of an agency through which the receipts and ex- 
penditures of public funds might be properly controlled and Congress 
be given that information which it must have if it is to assure itself that 
its agents, the administrative services, are properly performing their 
duties and be in a position to act intelligently in respect to the grant 
of future funds; to be secured through the creation of the independent 
office of Comptroller General. 

4. The revision of the rules of procedure of the two Houses of 
Congress so as to provide for a single Committee on Appropriations in 
each to have jurisdiction over all appropriation bills, and the recasting of 
the system of appropriation bills so as to make them conform to the 
budget classification. 

5. The provision of means for obtaining currently the information 
needed for budgetary and general control purposes ; to be secured through 
the recasting of its system of treasury and departmental accounting and 
reporting and the perfection of its system of administrative reports. 

6. The regrouping of the services of the administrative branch of 
the government departmentally, and the reassignment of activities among 
the several services so that the activities and services having to do with 
the same or closely related fields would be brought together under a 
common head, the existing overlapping and duplication of organization, 
plant and operations corrected, and all parts brought together into 
one systematically integrated piece of administrative mechanism. 

7. The reorganization of the system of personnel administration; to 
be brought about chiefly by the adoption of a standard classification 
of positions and salaries, the erection of the great field services, such 
as the postal, customs, and internal revenue services into ones offering 



THE INSTITUTE FOR GOVERNMENT RESEARCH 

definite careers to their officers and employees, and the establishment 
of correct methods for the recruitment, promotion, and retirement of 
personnel. 

8. The improvement of the methods made use of by the administrative 
services in performing their technical business operations, such as the 
purchase, issue, custody, and use of supplies, the handling and filing of 
correspondence, the collection, custody, and disbursement of public funds, 
the rendition of reports, the audit of revenues and expenditures, etc. 

In each of these great fields of administrative reform the Institute 
has done important work. The nature of this work is in part set forth 
in the paragraphs that immediately follow. 

Budgetary 
Reform 

Prior to the organization of the Institute the United States, alone 
among the great nations of the world, was attempting to handle its finan- 
cial affiairs without making use of a budget as its central instrument 
around which all of its financial operations should revolve. A careful 
study of the subject convinced the Institute that, until the National 
Government had made definite provision for putting the management 
of its financial affairs upon a budgetary basis, it was hopeless to effect 
any far-reaching improvements. Since its organization, the Institute has 
consequently devoted its major attention to the promotion of this funda- 
mental improvement. 

Its first step in this direction was the preparation and publication 
of the five volumes heading the list of publications of the Institute, 
in which are made known the budgetary systems of other countries and 
the nature of the problem presented to the National Government in seek- 
ing to put the administration of its financial affairs upon a budgetary 
basis. It followed this up by the preparation of a brief pamphlet rela- 
tive to this latter subject, copies of which were sent, with a personal 
letter, to each member of Congress, and other copies of which were given 
a wide circulation. As a result of the foregoing, Mr. Good, Chairman 
of the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives, 
requested our Director, Mr. Willoughby, to assist him in the preparation 
of a Bill and House Resolution having for their purpose to provide for 
the introduction of a budget system and the reform of the House or- 
ganization and procedure for the handling of the budget after it is 
received by that body. Provision was then made for the appointment 
of a Select Committee on the Budget to consider this and other bills 
relating to budgetary reform. Mr. Willoughby rendered assistance to 
this committee, not only by supplying valuable information and data 
but also through the suggestion of witnesses to be called, questions to be 
asked, and in other ways. A somewhat similar assistance was rendered 

8 



X 



ITS ORGANIZATION, WORK AND PUBLICATIONS 

by Mr. Willoughby to Senator McCormick, whose committee had charge 
of the bill in the Senate. 

The result of this work was the passage by Congress and the ap- 
proval by the President on June 10, 1921, of "The Budget and Account- 
ing Act, 1921." This act was declared by the President, in his annual 
message to Congress of December 6, 1921, to be "the beginning of the 
greatest reformation in governmental practices since the beginning of 
the republic." It accomplishes the first three of the fundamental im- 
provements that have been enumerated in that it makes definite provision 
for the government going upon a budget basis, for the provision in the 
Bureau of the Budget, created by it, of a bureau of general administra- 
tion to assist the President in the performance of his duties as head of 
the Administration and for the creation of the independent office of 
Comptroller General. 

Creation of an Organ of 
General Administration 

Mention has just been made of the creation by the "Budget and Ac- 
counting Act, 1921" of a bureau of general administration which on 
account of its important duties in respect to the assistance to the Presi- 
dent in the preparation of the budget is given the title of "Bureau of 
the Budget." Immediately upon the organization of this bureau by Gen- 
eral Charles G. Dawes, the first Director, the assistance of the Institute 
was requested in the working out of the many technical questions in- 
volved in the installation of the new system. Since then a number of 
members of the Institute's staff have been continuously employed on this 
work. Especially was their assistance availed of in the determination 
of the forms of the new budget and of the financial statements accom- 
panying it. 

Creation of the Independent Office 
of Comptroller General 

As indicated, the "Budget and Accounting Act, 1921" made provision 
for this office. In it Congress, for the first time in its history, will 
have an agency independent of executive control whose duty it will be, 
not merely to make a formal audit of all expenditures by the administra- 
tive services, but on the basis of the information so obtained, to recom- 
mend the action that should be taken to secure a more efficient and eco- 
nomical conduct of public affairs. 

Revision of the Rules of Procedure of Congress 
Governing Appropriation Procedure 

In its efforts to secure the adoption of a budget system the In- 
stitute pointed out that provision for the formulation and submission of 
a budget by the President would fail to accomplish its purpose unless 
the two Houses of Congress revised their rules of procedure so as to vest 

9 



THE INSTITUTE FOR GOVERNMENT RESEARCH 

in a single committee complete jurisdiction over all appropriation pro- 
posals and to provide for a system of appropriation bills conforming to 
the budgetary classification of items. The first of these changes, in so 
far as the House of Representatives is concerned, was accomplished 
largely through the efforts of Mr. Good, Chairman of the Committee 
on Appropriations, and the Select Committee of the Budget with whom 
our Director, Mr. Willoughby, was so closely associated. The second 
was secured as the result of an agreement reached between General 
Dawes, Director of the Bureau of the Budget, and Mr. Madden, who 
had succeeded Mr. Good as Chairman of the House Committee on Ap- 
propriations. It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of these 
changes. The new system at once was approved in the House and has 
led to a proposal by Senator Warren, Chairman of the Committee on 
Appropriations of the Senate, that a similar change be made in the 
Senate rules. 

Reorganization of the System of 
Accounting and Reporting 

The function of accounts and reports is twofold — that of ensuring 
fidelity on the part of all officers having to do with the collection, cus- 
tody, and disbursement of funds, and that of furnishing information 
regarding the financial condition and operations. Unfortunately the 
accounting and reporting system of the National Government has been 
devised almost wholly with reference to the first purpose only. As a 
result the financial data published by the government fail to give that 
information which is imperative if a proper administration of the finan- 
cial affairs of the government is to be had. In particular do they fail 
to furnish data needed for budgetary purposes. Due to an appreciation 
of this fact the Institute since its organization has been making an in- 
tensive study of the changes that should be made in the accounting and 
reporting system of the National Government in order to make it con- 
form to modern principles of public accounting and the requirements of 
the new budget system. The result of its study was embodied in a 
manuscript of over 400 pages, exclusive of appendices covering an equal 
number of pages, entitled "The System of Financial Reports of the 
National Government: A Description and Criticism of Existing Practices 
in respect of the Reporting of Receipts, Disbursements and Condition of 
the Treasury of the National Government with Suggestions for Their 
Improvement," copies of which have been furnished to the Secretary 
of the Treasury, the Comptroller General, and the Director of the 
Bureau of the Budget as an aid to them in effecting this important im- 
provement. Members of the Institute's staff are cooperating with these 
officers in their consideration of these recommendations, and it is cer- 
tain that the preparation of this manuscript has greatly promoted and 
will greatly assist in the securing of the changes needed. 

10 



ITS ORGANIZATION, WORK AND PUBLICATIONS 

Reorganization of the Administrative 
Branch of the Government 

Second only in importance to the adoption of a scientific budget sys- 
tem, and making provision -for an organ of general administration, is 
that of securing a thorough reorganization of the administrative branch 
of the government. The system as it now stands has had a development 
analogous to that of a rambling group of buildings composed of succes- 
sive accretions of wings, additions, sheds, and outlying structures, each 
created to meet a specific need but not designed with any reference to the 
production of a harmonious assemblage of buildings. Services whose 
duties fall in the same field and which have, or should have, the most 
intimate working relations with each other, are scattered among a num- 
ber of departments where it is exceedingly difficult for them to work in 
cooperation and often even in harmony with each other. Many depart- 
ments have attached to them services having nothing to do with their 
primary function and thus introducing into them elements that can only 
tend to complicate and interfere with them in the performance of their 
primary duties. 

This faulty organization affects injuriously almost every phase of 
public administration. It complicates the problem of administration and 
leads to unnecessary expenditures at scores of points. It makes it 
difficult, if not impossible, for Congress intelligently to provide for the 
legislative and financial needs of the services. It confuses the public 
mind in respect to what the government does and prevents the most 
effective use by the public of the work done for its benefit by these 
services. Finally, it stands in the way of the preparation of that sys- 
tematic report of operations and statement of future needs that should 
constitute the prime feature of a budget which it is proposed the Presi- 
dent shall annually submit to Congress. The correction of this grave 
defect in our governmental sys* n must be accomplished if the admin- 
istration of national affairs is( j be put upon even a measurably efficient 
basis. 

This problem the Institute for Government Research has approached 
from a number of standpoints. In the first place the assistance of the 
Institute has been sought by members of Congress, in the drafting of a 
resolution to provide for the appointment of a joint committee of the 
two Houses to make a thorough investigation of the entire administrative 
branch of the government with a view to making recommendations in 
respect to the steps that should be taken to put it upon a more efficient 
basis. This resolution was duly passed, and the committee is now at 
work upon the investigation. In the second place, the Institute's Direc- 
tor has cooperated with two special organizations which have taken up 
the matter of the regrouping of certain classes of services. At the re- 
quest of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States and the Na- 
tional Council on Education, he is serving as a member of special com- 

11 



THE INSTITUTE FOR GOVERNMENT RESEARCH 

mittees of those two bodies to consider proposals for the creation of a 
Department of Public Works and a Department of Education and 
Science, by the regrouping of existing services having those interests in 
charge. Both of these committes are relying largely upon the Institute 
for the detail information and technical advice needed in properly han- 
dling these subjects. 

Finally, the Institute has prepared a report of something over 400 
pages, entitled "The Reorganization of the Administrative Branch of 
the National Government," that sets forth in detail the principles that 
should be followed in effecting a scientific grouping of administrative 
services and the specific changes that should be made in the present or- 
ganization of that government in order to make it conform to such 
principles. Copies of this report have been furnished to all of the mem- 
bers of the Joint Commission, the members of the President's Cabinet and 
other officers concerned with this important branch of public adminis- 
tration. The Institute has received repeated assurances of the aid that 
this report is rendering to these officers. It, in fact, is hardly going too 
far to state that it is being made the basis for their study of this ques- 
tion and that many, if not most, of the recommendations contained in it 
will be urged upon Congress for its approval. 

Improvement of 
Personnel System 

The seventh fundamental improvement, that of securing an entire re- 
organization of the personnel system of the national government, has 
been promoted by the Institute in two ways. In the first place it made 
a thorough examination of the existing system with a view to determining 
the changes that should be made in it. The result of this study was 
published in a volume entitled "The Federal Service: A Study of the 
System of Personnel Administration of the United States Government." 
Much has been written regarding civil service reform from the stand- 
point of the elimination of the spoils system. This volume, however, 
represents the first detail study of the personnel system of the National 
Government from the standpoint of efficiency and proper administration. 
It cannot fail to be of great influence in promoting improvement in this 
branch of administration which is just now receiving special attention. 
In the volume previously published, "Principles Governing the Retire- 
ment of Public Employees," this special phase of the personnel problem 
had already been subjected to critical and constructive examination. 
Secondly, a member of the Institute's staff has been for a year or more 
devoting almost his whole time to the assistance of the Senate and House 
Committees on Civil Service in the drafting of legislation and the 
Civil Service Commission in planning administrative action looking to 
the effecting of the changes believed to be desirable. In respect to this 
basic improvement the Institute is thus playing substantially the role 
that it did in the securing of the adoption of a budget system. 

12 



ITS ORGANIZATION, WORK AND PUBLICATIONS 

Improvement in 
Administrative Procedure 

In respect to the fifth improvement, or rather, class of improvements, 
that of improvement of methods made use of by the several services of the 
government in performing their duties, the Institute has made a study of 
the two important procedural matters of government purchasing and 
government accounting and reporting. A report bearing on the first 
has been published and the manuscript for the latter is now in the hands 
of the Director undergoing editorial revision preparatory to transmis- 
sion to the printer. In addition to this the Institute has assisted a num- 
ber of services of the government in working out improved methods, an 
account of which will be found in the annual reports of the Director. 

Cooperation With Other Agencies 
for Governmental Improvement 

In considering the work of the Institute special mention should be 
made of the assistance rendered by it to other organizations seeking to 
promote a better administration of public affairs. The Institute has so 
well established itself as an agency for the promotion of governmental 
improvement that its Director has been asked to assist in almost all ef- 
forts in that direction. He has thus been asked and has consented 
to serve as a member of the following committees: 

1. Committee on Budget and Efficiency: Chamber of Commerce of the 

United States. 

2. Committee on Department of Public Works: Chamber of Commerce 

of the United States. 

3. Committee on Federal Legislation: American Council on Education. 

4. Committee on Federal Statistics: American Statistical Association. 

5. Joint Committee on a National Archives Building: American His- 

torical, Economic and Political Science Associations. 

Future Work of 
the Institute 

Important as has been the work of the Institute, it is necessary to 
recognize that this work represents but the laying of the foundation for 
the accomplishment of the end for which the Institute was created. 
There is almost literally no limit to the extent to which it is desirable to 
subject the organization and methods of operation of the administrative 
services of the government to intensive study for the purpose of making 
known the changes that should be made in them with a view to the se- 
curing of greater efficiency and the elimination of waste. Especially is 
this true of such services as the Post Office Establishment, the Bureau 
of Internal Revenue, and the Customs Service. It is highly desirable 
also that an objective critical study should be made of the organization 
and methods of work of the War and Navy Departments. 

13 



THE INSTITUTE FOR GOVERNMENT RESEARCH 

The Problem of 
Budgetary Technique 

Of most immediate urgency, however, is the study of the special prob- 
lems involved in the devising and practical operation of a budgetary 
system, after provision for such a system has been made by Congress. 
The adoption by Congress of a satisfactory budget law means only the 
taking of the first step towards putting the system of financial admin- 
istration of the National Government upon a sound basis. There still 
remains the important and difficult task of working out the technical 
details by which this system may be made effective. This means the 
making of careful studies of the form in which the budgetary estimates 
should be compiled and go forward; the heads and sub-heads under 
which appropriations should be made; the heads under which the ac- 
counting of expenditures should be had, in order to develop the informa- 
tion needed for budgetary and general control purposes; the character 
of financial statements that should be prepared in order that full and 
easily understood data may be made public; and the many other tech- 
nical matters involved in securing a really satisfactory budget system 
in its practical operation. The Institute is now directing a large part 
of its time to a study of these problems. 

Problems of 
Organization 

In like manner there are scores of technical problems having to do with 
organization that should be subjected to critical study. Such, for ex- 
ample, are the problems of determining the extent to which the policy 
should be pursued of making each subordinate service as far as possible 
self-contained, or of providing that all services within a department 
shall make common use of single departmental service for the perform- 
ance of such duties as those connected with the recruitment of personnel, 
the purchase, custody, distribution and use of supplies; the receipt, 
custody and disbursement of funds ; the keeping of accounts and rendition 
of reports, etc.; the extent to which there is need for the creation of 
technical staff agencies and the character and scope of duties of such 
agencies; the extent to which it is feasible, under our form of govern- 
ment, to provide for a permanent assistant secretary in each department 
who will perform the duties of a general manager for the department 
and have the same general status and responsibilities as the Permanent 
Under Secretaries of the several ministries under the British system, etc. 

Description of Existing Organization and 
Activities of the Government 

The first essential to a systematic reorganization of the government 
and improvement of the methods of administration is full knowledge of 
its present make-up and operations. The greater the work, the more 

14 



ITS ORGANIZATION, WORK AND PUBLICATIONS 

varied the activities engaged in, and the more complex the organiza- 
tion employed the more imperative becomes the necessity that this 
information shall be available, and available in such a form that it can 
be readily utilized. To meet the need of such information the Insti- 
tute has undertaken the preparation of a series of monographs, entitled 
"Service Monographs of the United States Government," having for 
their purpose to present, according to a uniform plan, a detail description 
of the history, activities, organization, laws governing, etc., of each of 
the several score of separate administrative services now being main- 
tained and operated by the National Government. 

In the preparation of these monographs the Institute has kept steadily 
in mind the aim to produce documents that will be of direct value and 
assistance in the administration of public affairs. In addition to fur- 
nishing the information absolutely essential in order intelligently to 
put through the great work of reorganization of the administrative 
branch of the government, now so urgently needed, these volumes will 
provide documents of direct assistance in the current administration of 
public affairs. To executive officers they will offer valuable tools of ad- 
ministration. Through them such officers can, with a minimum of ef- 
fort, inform themselves regarding the details, not only of their own 
service, but of others with whose facilities, activities and methods it is 
desirable that they should be familiar. To members of Congress they 
will furnish, in readily accessible form, the information needed by them 
in order intelligently to legislate regarding and to vote funds for the 
support of these services. To the public finally they will give that 
knowledge of the organization and operations of their government which 
must be had if an enlightened public opinion is to be brought to bear 
upon the conduct of public affairs. The progress that has been made 
on this work is shown in the Appendix to this pamphlet listing and de- 
scribing the publications of the Institute. 

Promotion of Administrative Improvement 
of State Governments 

Though the Institute has concentrated its work primarily upon the 
National Government, it has sought at the same time to do what it could 
in the way of rendering assistance to the governors and other officers of 
the states who are seeking to meet many of the same problems of ad- 
ministrative improvement that confront the National Government. Espe- 
cially has it cooperated with these officials in promoting the cause of 
budgetary reform for these bodies. This it has done, partly by the prepa- 
ration and publication of its report dealing with "The Movement for 
Budgetary Reform in the States," but chiefly through direct corre- 
spondence and the rendering of expert criticism and suggestions on 
proposed plans. The field of usefulness thus open to it is one of con- 
stantly growing importance. 

15 



THE INSTITUTE FOR GOVERNMENT RESEARCH 

Journal of Public 
Administration 

In looking to the future, mention should be made of the service that 
can be rendered to the public by the Institute through the publication 
of a "Journal of Public Administration/' Such a journal would not 
only furnish the vehicle for the publication of shorter contributions 
which do not find a proper place in any of the other series of reports 
issued by the Institute, but would serve as the means through which all 
of the agencies and individuals now interested in promoting governmental 
improvement could keep currently informed regarding the work being 
done. Its possible influence in educating public opinion needs no men- 
tion. More important than this, however, would be the effect that it 
would have in bringing to the attention of those actually in charge of 
the conduct of public affairs matters that would be of direct value to 
them in the conduct of the affairs of their offices. It is quite within the 
realm of possibilities that a periodical of this character might in time 
be made self-supporting. 

Conclusion 

In the foregoing it has been practicable only to give in the most 
general terms the purposes of the Institute, the character of its work 
and its possible field of usefulness for the future. Of the need for such 
an institution that will quietly and persistently subject all of the prob- 
lems of national administration to scientific study with a view to making 
known wherein present conditions are defective and the action required 
in order to correct such defects there would seem to be no question. The 
Institute now has the great advantage that it has passed through the 
formative stage, that it has a clear idea of precisely the nature of the 
task that is involved in putting the organization and administration of 
the National Government upon a more efficient basis, and, more important 
than all, that it has established itself in the confidence of both the 
legislative and administrative branches of the government. From now 
on its usefulness is to be measured only by the resources that may be 
placed at its disposal for the prosecution of its work. Relative to the 
work to be done, its financial needs are small. That these needs will 
be met in at least a measurable degree is the confident expectation of 
those who since its organization have given it encouragement and support. 



16 



APPENDIX 



PUBLICATIONS OF THE 

INSTITUTE FOR GOVERNMENT 

RESEARCH 



D. Appleton & Co., New York, Publishers 



©fje ££>pstem of jFinanctal ^ministration of 
(great prttain 

By 

W. F. WlLLOUGHBY 

Director, Institute for Government Research 

W. W. WlLLOUGHY 

Professor of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University 

S. M. Lindsay 

Professor of Social Legislation, Columbia University 

1917, 256 pages, 8vo; cloth, $3.00 net 

This is the first authoritative, detailed account of the system of finan- 
cial administration of the country which has the oldest, best developed 
and foremost budgetary system in the world. It was prepared as the 
result of a personal study of the system on the spot and conference with 
the officials having chief responsibility for its operations. The study was 
undertaken in order that full information regarding the character and 
practical workings of this most successful of all budget systems might 
be available in working out the problem of budgetary reform in this 
country. It has received high praise from the leading journals in both 
England and the United States. 

The scope of the work is indicated by its chapter and appendix head- 
ings which follow: 

CONTENTS 

1. Analysis of the Problem of Financial Administration of a Government 
II. Some Fundamental Features of the English System of Financial Admin- 
istration 

III. The Estimates: Preparation and Submission 

IV. The Estimates: Character and Form 
V. The Estimates: Appropriations in Aid 

VI. The Estimates: Action Upon in Parliament 
VII. Disbursement of Public Funds 
VIII. Treasury Control Over Expenditures 
IX. Office of Works and Public Buildings 
X. Stationery Office 
XL The Audit of Public Acounts 
XII. The Svstem of Financial Reports 
XIII. The Budget 
XIV. Conclusion. 

Appendix 

1. Exchequer and Audit Departments Act, 1866, and Treasury Minute Thereon 

2. Consolidated Fund (No. 1) Bill, 1912 

3. Consolidated Fund (Appropriation) Act, 1912 

4. Forms Authorizing and Granting Credits and Exchequer Issues 



19 



W$t putrget 

By 

Rene Stourm 

1917, 619 pages, 8vo; cloth, $4.00 net 

This translation of Professor Stourm's famous work on the Budget 
was published by the Institute as giving much the best exposition of the 
French budgetary system now extant. While devoted primarily to fiscal 
institutions and practices in France, it gives exceedingly valuable com- 
parisons with financial systems in other countries and discusses in a 
broad philosophical way the problems involved in providing for a satis- 
factory system of financial administration in any country. It is espe- 
cially rich in historical matter relating to the financial institutions of 
both France and other countries. It may, in fact, be regarded as the 
standard treatise on the origin, history and practice of budget making in 
the leading countries of Europe. 

CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION — The Budget and the Budgetary Prerogative 
I. Definition of the Word "Budget" — Budgetary Prerogative 
II. Contest Over Control of the Purse in France 

PART I — Preparation of the Budget 

III. The Framers of the Budget 

IV. Time of Preparing the Budget 

V. The "Fiscal Period" and the "Administrative Period" 
VI. Universality and Specialization 
VII. Budgetarv Estimate of Revenues and Expenditures 
VIII-IX. Contents of the (French) Budget 

X. Extraordinary Budgets and Budgets of Special Resources 
XI. The Treasury 

PART II — Voting the Budget 
XII. Legislative Commissions on Budget — Public Discussion 

XIII. Specialization (Special Funding of Different Activities) 

XIV. The Budgetary Powers of the Two Chambers 
XV. Annual Voting of the Budgets 

XVI-XVII. Additional Appropriations 
XVIII. Refusal to Vote the Budget 

PART III — Execution of the Budget 
XIX-XX-XXI. The CoUection of Revenues 

XXII. The Concentration of Revenues in the Treasury 

XXIII. The Treasury Service 

XXIV. Making Disbursements in Accordance with Appropriations 
XXV. Means of Control Over Disbursements 

XXVI. The Closing of Fiscal Periods 

PART IV — Control of the Budget 
XXVII. Necessity of Control 
XXVIII. Cour des Comptes 
XXIX. Control Over the Ordonnateurs 

XXX. Regulation of the Budget 
XXXI. Resume of Budgetary Formalities 

20 



®ije Canabtan Pubgetarp is^stem 

By 

H. G. VlLLARD 

and 

W. W. WlLLOUGHBY 

1918, 379 pages, 8vo; cloth, $3.00 net 

This work was prepared for the purpose of showing the character and 
practical workings of a budget system in a country presenting conditions 
in many respects analogous to our own. It has the special value that 
it exhibits the workings of a budget system similar in its most funda- 
mental aspects to the British system but having to operate under changed 
conditions. By showing how the latter system works, and in many re- 
spects fails to work satisfactorily, under conditions more closely 
analogous to those obtaining in this country, it discloses the extent to 
which the good and bad results reached have been due to excellences and 
defects which are inherent in the system itself or to particular practices 
and procedures followed, which, therefore, may with profit be copied or 
avoided in any attempts at budgetary reform in the United States. In 
order that the comparison of actual budgetary operations in Great Britain 
and Canada may be most effectively made, the Canadian volume has fol- 
lowed as closely as possible the order and mode of treatment of the 
volume dealing with the British system. The two works thus supplement 
each other and together throw much light upon the problem now con- 
fronting both the National Government and those of our states of de- 
vising a more satisfactory system for the administration of their financial 
affairs. 

CONTENTS 

I. Analysis of the Problem of Financial Administration 
II. The Canadian Constitutional System 

III. Control of Government Expenditures before Confederation; Provincial 

Subsidies 

IV. General Administrative Practices 

V. Executive Expenditures without Legislative Sanction 
VI. The Estimates: Preparation and Submission 
VII. The Estimates: Action upon in Parliament 
VIII. Organs and Officers for the Administration of the Finances 
IX. Issue and Disbursement of Public Funds 
X., Audit of Public Accounts 
XI. The System of Financial Reports 
XII. Political Evils and Their Effect on Canadian Financial Administration 
XIII. Divergencies of the Canadian from the British Budgetarv System and 
Their Results 

Appendix 

1. Department of Finance and Treasury Board Act 

2. Consolidated Revenue and Audit Act 

3. The Appropriation Act, No. 1, 1917 

4. Budget Speech Delivered by the Minister of Finance, April 24, 1917 

21 



%%t problem of a JSattonal pubget 

By 

W. F. WlLLOUGHBY 

Director, Institute for Government Research 
1918, 220 pages, 8vo; cloth, $3.00 net 

This volume has for its purpose to consider the special problem that 
confronts our National Government in seeking to put the administration 
of its financial affairs upon a budgetary basis. To this end it seeks to 
do two things: first, to analyze the problem and state the fundamental 
principles that must find expression in any budget system if it is to be 
satisfactory; and, second, to make known and discuss the particular steps 
that must be taken by our Rational Government in putting these prin- 
ciples into execution. Though the general idea underlying a budget 
system is comparatively simple and easy of statement, few persons have 
any conception of the teclmical requirements of such a system and the 
many changes that must be made in the organization and methods of 
procedure of both the administrative and legislative branches of the gov- 
ernment if this system is to be made to work successfully in practice. 
It is hardly going too far to say that this work represents the first serious 
attempt to consider this problem in both its theoretical and purely prac- 
tical aspects as a concrete problem confronting the National Government. 

CONTENTS 

I. The Nature and Functions of a Budget 
II. The Administration of a Budget System 

III. Legislative Action upon a Budget 

IV. The Problem of the Establishment of a Budget System by the National 

Government 
V. The National Government as a Holding Corporation: The Question of 
Subsidiary Budgets 
VI. The Correlation of the Organization of Congress and That of the Execu- 
tive for Budgetary Purposes 
VII. Allotment of Funds by Executive Officials an Essential Feature of any 
Correct Budgetary System 
VIII. The Movement for Budgetary Reform in the National Government 

IX. Conclusion: Establishment by Congress of a National Commission on the 
Adoption of a Budget the Next Step 

Appendix 

1. Financial Statements of the Institute for Government Research as Illustra- 

tion of Character of Budgetary Data Desired. 

2. Message of President Taft to Congress on the Need for a National Budget, 

June 27, 1912 

3. Resolution Creating a Commission to Report a Plan for the Adoption of 

National Budget System 

4. Bill to Provide a Board of Administrative Control Under the Direction of 

the President of the United States 

5. Bibliography 

22 



lettuce iWonograpfjs of tfjc ®L &» #obernment 

To lay the basis for a comprehensive study of the organization and 
operations of the National Government the Institute has undertaken the 
preparation of a series of volumes, of which the two above named repre- 
sent the first issues, having for their purpose to give a detail account 
of all of the several score of distinct administrative services now main- 
tained by the National Government. 

These monographs are all to be prepared according to a uniform plan. 
They will give: first, the history of the establishment of the service; 
second, its functions, described, not in general terms but by detailing its 
specific activities; third, the organization for the handling of these ac- 
tivities; fourth, the character of its plant; fifth, a compilation of, or ref- 
erence to, the laws and regulations governing its operations ; sixth, finan- 
cial statements showing its appropriations, expenditures and other data 
for a period of years; and, finally, a full bibliography of the sources of 
information, official and private, bearing on the service and its opera- 
tions. 

Published 

The Reclamation Service 
The Geological Survey 

In Press 

The Bureau of Mines 

The Alaskan Engineering Commission 

The Federal Board for Vocational Education 

The Federal Trade Commission 

The Tariff Commission 

The Steamboat Inspection Service 

The General Land Office 

The National Park Service 

The Public Health Service 

The Employees' Compensation Commission 

The Weather Bureau 

The Bureau of Education 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics 

The Women's Bureau 

The Children's Bureau 

In Progress 

The Shipping Board 

The Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce 

The Veterans' Bureau 

The Interstate Commerce Commission 

The Bureau of Lighthouses 

The Federal Power Commission 

The Office of Supervising Architect of the Treasury 

The Bureau of Navigation 

The Bureau of Immigration 

The Bureau of Naturalization 

The Forest Service 

The Bureau of Public Roads 

The Coast and Geodetic Survey 

The Railroad Labor Board 

31 



€ift JWobement for Pud attar? Reform in tfje States: 

By 

W. F. WlLLOUGHBT 

Director, Institute for Government Research 
1918, 256 pages, 8vo; cloth, $3.00 net 

This volume has for its purpose to give a full account of the action 
taken by the several states of the Union looking to the adoption by them 
of a scientific budget system. The treatment is at once analytical, de- 
scriptive and critical. After a brief statement of the causes giving rise to 
the movement and the nature of the conditions to be met, each state ia 
taken up for separate consideration. Wherever legislation has been had 
on the subject such legislation is reproduced in full and subjected to 
critical examination. Finally, a careful analysis is presented of all the 
laws enacted for the purpose of bringing out the different policies that 
have been adopted by the states and those features in respect to which 
it is believed that the states have acted wisely or the contrary. The in- 
formation thus afforded is of value not only to the states affected and to 
other states contemplating action along the same lines, but to those who 
are giving special consideration to the problem of budgetary reform for 
the National Government. An appendix gives an exhaustive bibliography 
of the subject. 

CONTENTS 
I. Introduction: Origin of Movement 

II. Budgetary Legislation by the Individual States — Maryland, Utah, New 
Mexico 

III. Budgetary Legislation by the Individual States — Virginia, Delaware 

IV. Budgetary Legislation by the Individual States — Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, 

Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio 
V. Budgetary Legislation by the Individual States — California, Tennessee 
VI. Budgetary Legislation by the Individual States — Wisconsin, Vermont, 
North Dakota, South Dakota 
VII. Budgetary Legislation by the Individual States — Connecticut, Louisiana, 
Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington 
VIII. Budgetary Legislation by the Individual States — New York 

IX. Budgetary Legislation by the Individual States — Alabama, Arizona, 

Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania 
X. Comparative Analysis of Budgetary Legislation of the States: Formula- 
tion of the Budget 
XL Comparative Analysis of Budgetary Legislation of the States: Legislative 

Action upon the Budget 
XII. Conclusion: General Summary 

Appendix 

1. Extracts from Report of Committee on Finances, Revenues and Ex- 

penditures, New York Constitutional Convention, 1915, Favoring Adop- 
tion of Constitutional Amendment Providing for a Budget Setting Forth 
Defects of Existing Appropriation System in New York State. 

2. Summary of Findings and Recommendations Relating to State Finances and 

Budget Procedure as Submitted to the Survey Committee of State Af- 
fairs, Colorado, by its Staff, December, 1916 

3. Bibliography 

23 



©rganijeb Ctfort* for tfje Smprotoement of Jfletfjoba 
of Stmuntstrattcm tn tfje Uniteb Stated 

G. A. Weber 
Member of Staff, Institute for Government Research 

1919, 391 pages, 8vo; cloth, $3.00 net 

During recent years a nation-wide movement has come into existence 
for putting the work of the administrative branch of our governments, 
national, state and local, upon a more efficient basis. This movement has 
found expression in the creation of a variety of agencies, public and 
private, having for their purpose to examine critically the organization 
and methods of business of particular governments and to point out the 
steps that must be taken for the improvement of conditions found to be 
defective. So rapidly has this movement grown that it is difficult even 
for those specially concerned with this field of research to acquaint 
themselves with what has been done by these various agencies, in general 
or with respect to any particular subject of investigation. 

The present volume has been prepared to make available in one place 
the essential information regarding these various agencies and to furnish, 
as far as may be, a list of their publications. In successive chapters is 
given an account of the creation, work and publications of each such 
agency. These publications are furthermore indexed alphabetically in 
the general index to the volume so that all the publications bearing on 
any particular topic may be readily located. The volume also contains 
a paper by the Director of the Institute, in which the significance of the 
movement leading to the establishment of these institutions is subjected 
to critical examination. 

CONTENTS 

The Modern Movement for Efficiency in the Administration of Public Affairs 
PART I — Agencies for Research in Government 
I. Agencies for Studying Public Administration Generally: Unofficial 
II. Agencies for Investigating the National Administration: Official 

III. Agencies for Investigating the Administration of States: Official 

IV. Agencies for Investigating the Administration of States: Unofficial 

V. Agencies for Investigating State and Local Administrations: Unofficial 

VI. Agencies for Studying Municipal Administration Generally: Unofficial 

VII. Agencies for Investigating the Administration of Cities: Official 

VIII. Agencies for Investigating the Administration of Cities: Unofficial 

IX. Agencies to Investigate the Administration of Counties: Unofficial 

PART II — Organs of Central Administrative Control 
X. Organs of Administrative Control in the States 
XI. Organs of Administrative Control in Cities 

PART III — Legislative Reference and Bill-Drafting Agencies 
XII. The Problem of Legislative Reference and Bill-Drafting Services 

XIII. Agencies Furnishing Legislative Reference and Bill-Drafting Service 

XIV. Legislative Reference Services 
XV. Bill-Drafting Services 

24 



£eacter$' pension £>v&ttm6 in tfje Winitth States 

By 

Paul Studensky 

1920, 460 pages, 8vo; cloth, $3.00 net 

For years the problem of devising a proper pension system for teachers 
in our public schools has been before the American public. Although 
many varieties of systems have been established, practically all are of 
so faulty a character that their thorough reorganization is imperative if 
disaster is to be avoided. 

This failure to meet adequately one of the most important problems 
of public administration is due chiefly to the lack of scientific knowledge 
regarding its various complex phases. The present volume is intended 
to meet this need. 

The first part of the volume is devoted to a thorough-going analysis 
of the teachers' pension problem in all its aspects. The second part 
discusses the typical systems of today. Four chapters are devoted to a 
study of the unsound systems. The remaining four chapters are de- 
voted to an analysis of the scientific pension systems and the way they 
have been developed. The full text of the laws of a sound character 
are reproduced, the most important actuarial tables of recent develop- 
ment are given and a carefully prepared bibliography of the subject. 

CONTENTS 

PART I — The Problem of Teachers' Pexsioxs 
I. The Evolution of Teachers' Pensions in the United States 
II. The Teachers' Pension Problem Outlined 

III. Superannuation Benefits 

IV. Disability Benefits 

V. Death and Withdrawal Benefits 
VI. Determining the Cost of Benefits 

VII. The Division of Cost Between Government and Teachers 
VIII. The Government Contribution 
IX. The Teachers' Contribution 
X. Compulsory Participation and the Right to Management 

PART II — Typical Teachers' Pension Systems of Today 
XI. Systems Without Reserves 
XII. Systems With Inadequate Reserves: State Systems 

XIII. Systems With Inadequate Reserves: Local Systems 

XIV. Systems With Inadequate Reserves: The Chicago Fund 

XV. The Massachusetts Fund the First Scientific System: The Connecticut 
Fund 
XVI. The New York City Fund 
XVII. The Pennsylvania System 
XVIII. The Scientific Pension Laws of 1919: New Jersey, Ohio and Vermont 

Appendix 

1. Comparative Analysis of the Twenty-four Systems Discussed 

2. References to Laws, Statistical and Other Reports, etc., Relative to All 

the Teachers' Pension Systems in the United States 

3. Laws Providing for Sound Teachers' Pension Systems 

4. Actuarial Tables 

5. Bibliography 

25 



tCije Jfeberal g>ertrice: & g>ttibp of tfje System of 

personnel gbmintetratton of tfie Wlnittb 

States <§obewment 

By 

Lewis Mayers 

Member of Staff, Institute for Government Research 

1922, 607 pages, 8vo; cloth, $5.00 net 

Much has been written regarding the reform of the federal civil service 
from the standpoint of the elimination of the spoils system. This volume, 
however, represents the first attempt to make a thorough study of the 
personnel system of the National Government from the standpoint of ef- 
ficiency and proper administration. In it is given a detailed description 
and critical analysis of the system as it exists at the present time. AM 
of the problems of personnel are subjected to examination, special care 
being taken to indicate not only wherein these problems are improperly 
met but the specific changes that should be made to put the personnel 
system of the National Government upon an efficient basis. That the 
volume will be of great value in the work now under way for improving 
the methods of public administration cannot be questioned. 

CONTENTS 
Foreword 

I. Introductory 
PART I — The Elimination of Politics from the Federal Personnel System 
II. Introductory 

III. The Law and Tradition of Selection and Tenure 

IV. The extension of Formal Methods of Selection 

V. The Elimination of Political Interference Inside the Service 

PART II — The Problem of Federal Personnel Administration 
VI. Introduction 

VII. The Classification and Standardization of Positions and Salaries 
VIII. Selection by Promotion from Within versus Recruitment from Without 
IX. Methods of Selection from Within: Reassignment and Promotion 
X. Recruitment Methods: Some Basic Aspects 
XI. Recruitment Methods: The Competitive Classified Service 
XII. Recruitment Methods: The Unclassified Service 

XIII. The Maintenance of Individual Efficiency 

XIV. Working Conditions 

XV. Organization for Personnel Administration 
XVI. Employees' Organizations and Committees Appending 



26 



principles of (government Accounting 
anb Reporting 

By 

Francis Oakey 
Chief Consulting Accountant, Institute for Government Research 

1921, 561 pages, 8vo; cloth, $5.00 net 

In respect to private enterprises the science of accounts has been 
brought to a high degree of perfection. Through the principles and 
practices developed by it, it is now possible for those in charge of an 
enterprise, no matter how complicated its operations may be, to secure 
the most detailed information regarding any phase of its financial activi- 
ties and currently to control their operations. 

It is to be regretted that similar progress has not been made in re- 
spect to the problems of public finance. There is, in fact, almost nothing 
of a comprehensive or systematic character dealing with the matter of 
public accounting. The present volume has been prepared to fill this 
gap. The subject is handled in an intensely practical manner and every 
effort has been made to make of it a work that can be easily understood 
by the layman as well as the trained accountant. The whole subject is 
approached from the standpoint of reporting; that is, the point of de- 
parture is to determine first the character of accounting information that 
is needed for the proper conduct of public affairs and then to set forth 
the manner in which this information is to be secured and presented. 
Whether one agrees or not with all the positions taken by the author, 
the work cannot fail to be of great service to all officers of a government 
having to do with the accounting and reporting operations of a govern- 
ment. 

CONTENTS 

I. Introduction 
II. Funds and Methods of Funding 

III. Information Needed Regarding the Financial Conditions of Funds 

IV. Detail Statements of the Operation of Funds 

V. Appropriations and Information Needed Regarding Their Financial 

Condition 
VI. Relation of Fund Accounts to Proprietary Accounts 
VII. Statements of Operations of the Government as a Whole 
VIII. Information Needed Regarding Financial Condition of the Government 
as a Whole 
IX. The Balance Sheet 
X. The Surplus Account 
XI. Information Needed Regarding Receipts 
XII. Detail Statements of Expenditures 

XIII. Information Needed Regarding Fixed Property 

XIV. Information Needed Regarding Stores 

XV. Information Needed Regarding Funded Debt and Sinking Funds 
XVI. Schedules of Current Assets and Current Liabilities 
XVII. Statements Relating to Private Funds 
XVIII. The Budget as a Report 

27 



IJrimtples <£obermn8 tfje Retirement of 
public employees 

By 

Lewis Meriam 

Member of the Staff, Institute for Government Research 

1918, 462 pages, 8vo; cloth, $3.00 net 

The problem of providing for the retirement of public employees when 
they are no longer able to perform the duties of their positions is one 
which must sooner or later be met by all but purely local governments. 
It is one, moreover, which involves considerations of a technical char- 
acter that must be met if a system at once financially sound, equitable, 
an susceptible of efficient administration is to be established. The de- 
termination of these considerations and of the manner in which they 
should be met cannot possibly be worked out by a legislative body un- 
aided. There are thus few problems of administration that it is more 
desirable should be subjected to independent, scientific study. It was 
due to this that this subject was among the first undertaken by the In- 
stitute. The result of this study is given in the present volume. 

CONTENTS 

I. The Objects Sought in Establishing a Retirement System 
II. Analysis of the Problem of Devising an Adequate Retirement System 

III. The Contributory vs. the Non-Contributory Systems 

IV. The Wholly vs. the Partly Contributory Systems and the Indirect Con- 

tributions of the Government 
V. The Superannuation or Service Benefit 
VI. The Disability Benefit 
VII. Benefits on Withdrawal from the Active Service, Whether by Resigna- 
tion or Dismissal 
VIII. A Benefit in Event of Death in the Active Service, Death Not Caused 
by the Actual Performance of Duty 
IX. A Benefit in Event of Death in the Active Service, Death the Direct 

Result of the Actual Performance of Duty 
X. A Benefit in Event of Death after Retirement 
XI. The Employee Who Becomes Inefficient from Causes Other than Acci- 
dent, Disease or Old Age 
XII. A Benefit in the Event of the Abolition of Position or Reorganization 
of Office 

XIII. The Present Employees 

XIV. The Actuarial Reserve Plan vs. The Assessment or Cash Disbursement 

Plan 
XV. The Establishment and Operation of a Retirement System on the Ac- 
tuarial Reserve Basis Generally Described 
XVI. The Actuarial Deficit Created When a New System Promises Benefits 
to Present Employees for Past Services 
XVII. Systems too Small to be Conducted on Actuarial Reserve Basis 
XV III. Certain Common Practices in Financing a Fund that Are Objectionable 
XIX. Protecting the Public from Financial Indiscretion of Retired Employees 
XX. Conclusions 
Bibliography 

28 



principles of (government JJurcfjasmg 

By 

A. G. Thomas 

Member of Staff, Institute for Government Research 

1919, 274 pages, 8vo; cloth, $3.00 net 

Among technical problems of administration those having to do with 
the operations involved in determining purchase requirements and in 
subsequently effecting purchases after such requirements have been as- 
certained occupy a prominent place. This class of problems presents 
itself in quite a different form in the case of governments from what it 
does in that of private undertakings. This arises from the wide range 
of articles to be secured, the large number of departments and institu- 
tions to be served and. above all, from the fact that government pur- 
chasing agents must make their action conform rigidly to legal require- 
ments. 

Due to the foregoing the ordinary treatises on purchasing as applied 
to private enterprises are only of limited value to government officers 
having in charge these duties. The present volume seeks to overcome 
je limitations by concerning itself directly with the problem of pur- 
chasing as its confronts a government. Though based on a careful study 
of the purchasing systems of a large number of the more important in- 
dustrial corporations of the United States, it keeps constantly in view 
the special conditions that have to be met in government operations. 
It thus furnishes information regarding the manner in which this im- 
portant task of government services should be performed that is avail- 
able in no other work. 

CONTENTS 
PART I — The Basic Problem of Govexx3iext Purchasing 
I. Introduction 

II. The Centralization of Purchasing in Governments 

III. Legal Restrictions in Government Purchasing 

PART II — Purchasing Methods 

IV. The Purchasing Process Outlined 
V. Determining Purchase Requirements 

VI. Determining Current Market Conditions and Tendencies 
VII. Elements Essential to Securing the Fullest Competition 
VIII. The Development of Specifications 
IX. Inviting Bids: Special Problems in Preparing an Invitation for Bids 

X. Purchase Agreements 
XI. Giving Publicity to Purchase Requirements 
XII. Purchase Negotiations and Awards 

XIII. Tollow-Up 

XIV. inspection 

XV. Handling Invoices and Paying Bills 

Appendix 

1. Purchasing System of the General Electric Company 

2. Purchasing System of the New York Central Railroad, Eastern Division 

3. Continuing Agreements in City Purchasing 

29 



^Principles of public personnel ^omtnisitratton 

By 

Arthur W. Procter 
Former Member of Staff, Institute for Government Research 

1921, 244 pages, 8vo; cloth, $3.00 net 

The securing and maintaining of an efficient personnel is one of the 
most important problems confronting all governments. No one who 
has not made a detailed study of the question can appreciate the large 
number of distinct factors entering into this problem or the difficulties 
involved in their proper handling. These factors, morever, are largely 
of a technical character. They embrace not merely general principles, 
such as that underlying the merit system, but the determination of the 
character of organization and procedure that shall be employed in putting 
these principles into execution, the nature of the tests that shall be made 
use of in selecting new employees, the manner in which employees shall 
be classified for the purpose of fixing their compensation, controlling 
their opportunities for promotion, etc., the means to be employed in 
determining the relative efficiency of employees engaged in the same or 
collateral lines of work, the nature of the personnel records to be main- 
tained and scores of other details. Only a relatively few persons can 
be expected to concern themselves with the technical phases of this 
problem. There are many, however, such as members of our national 
state and local legislative bodies, who are called upon to consider pro- 
posals looking to the reorganization of the personnel system of the gov- 
ernments with which they are connected, who ought to have a fairly 
comprehensive grasp of the nature and scope of the problem as a whole. 
It is with special reference to the needs of such officers that the present 
volume has been prepared. 

CONTENTS 

I. History of Public Employment 
II. A Public Employment Program 

III. The Civil Service Commission 

IV. Standardization of Public Employment 

V. The Conduct of a Standardization Inquiry 
VI. Recruiting and Selection 
VII. Training 

VIII. Rating and Control of Individual Efficiency 
IX. Advancement and Promotion 
X. Employees' Representation 

Appendix 

1. Civil Service Commissions in the United States Classified According to Legal 

Conditions of Control 

2. Standard Civil Service Laws for States and Cities Drafted by National 

Civil Service Reform League 

3. Bibliographic Note 

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